Robert Renaud attended WBC on Saturday only and he only came
to play Race for the Galaxy. There were only two heats
that day and he pretty much needed to win both. His first game
had to be decided by a tie-breaker, but he did not lose a game
all day from Heat #3 through the Final that night.

Race for the Galaxy was certainly one of the hottest
games coming into WBC 2008. Its quick and relatively simple play
make it very accessible to many players. This had some people
predicting an attendance in excess of 200 for the event. 103
actually competed, much closer to my prediction of 120.

Many players played in all four heats, but two preliminary
wins was the most any one player would manage. 13 managed the
double win mark, counter to another GM's radical prediction that
some two-game winners would not even advance. The highest single
score was 71 by the reigning Caesar, Raphael Lehrer.

All of the top16 qualifiers appeared for the semi-finals so
no alternates could advance. Lyman Moquin took 6th place in the
first semi finished, advancing Aaron Fuegi. Rob Kircher and Renaud
advanced from their tables, and in the most hotly contested semi,
Ben Stephenson edged Raphael Lehrer who had to settle for 5th
place laurels. Fittingly it was Ben who lost a tie-breaker to
Robert earlier that day.

In the Final there was rarely a turn that the experienced
players missed a chance to develop or settle. But by the third
and fouth turns the other players were declaring 'game over'
due to Robert's great card combos. The GM took detailed notes
on cards played and kept stats showing which home worlds performed
best overall. Should be most enlightening. If he ever locates
those notes he would be happy to share them. Aaron, Rob, and
Ben finished with scores of 44, 43, and 42 but Robert was over
50.

Various changes to tournament format were discussed. Expect
to see only two sessions on the schedule next year, but with
each session including two back-to-back heats. Most players rejected
a proposal to include two-player games in the mix.